Kotetsu and Izumo: 30 Kisses
by Inglorious DMK
Summary: [KotetsuIzumo] 30 themes, 30 kisses, 30 ficlets and drabbles of KotetsuIzumo goodness. What more could you want?
1. Nobodies

Title: Nobodies  
Author: Kameko-chan  
Pairings: Kotetsu/Izumo  
Notes: 150 word drabble, written for the 30 Kisses LJ community (as these all will be). Theme 27, 'Superstar'

-

They weren't famous ninja, Kotetsu and Izumo. They were the paper pushers, the errand boys, the chuunin that blended into the background of existence in Konoha. They spent their days in the service of their hokage, their nights in each other's arms. If either of them craved the fame that many enjoyed, neither voiced the longing. The cost was far too high, the price paid in blood.

When the reserves were low and the desk jockeys were called out for fieldwork, Izumo stood on tiptoe to brush a kiss on the other's forehead. "Come back a nobody," he whispered, gloved hands gripping the uniform vest. Kotetsu nodded, understanding. He was the only one who did.

Izumo stood at the door for a long time afterwards and hoped, prayed, begged the gods to spare his soul mate the opportunity to be a hero.

The most famous ninja were the dead ones.

END

EDIT: For those who have no idea who these two are (a pity) think back to the chuunin exam. Rememberthe two bully kids that tried to trick everyone with genjutsu into thinking the second floor was the third floor, then later went poof and turned into two sesky examiners? That's Kotetsu and Izumo (Kotetsu's the one with the bandages, Izumo's the other one). And no,I did not make up those names.


	2. Importance

Title: Importance  
Author: Kameko-chan  
Pairings: Kotetsu/Izumo  
Notes: Theme 15, 'Perfect Blue'. Heh, these will probably degenerate into complete and utter crack soon.

-

They've stopped caring who knows. When you live your life day to day, when you watch your friends die so that you and yours can live to see tomorrow, people's prejudices have a smaller impact on your life. Being happy becomes the important factor. Lying side by side in the lush grass of the park they help tend, next to the flowerbed they'd helped plant and the tree they'd both learned to climb on, _that _is what matters. Holding hands as they watch the clouds float through the hazy summer sky is the important thing, not who sees them do it.

Kotetsu leans over and touches lips to his companion's cheek, the chastest of kisses. He whispers to Izumo that he loves him, will always love him, because he hasn't mentioned it in awhile. It's important to him that Izumo always knows, and it's important that Kotetsu knows he knows.

Izumo colors slightly, a hint of red that even his best friend's steady gaze barely picks up. He leans to the left and rests his head on the steady shoulder that always has been and always will be there for him, unrepentantly blissful. He smiles and tells Kotetsu that he'll always love him too, no matter what, even if he stops liking him one day. Kotetsu laughs and kisses the top of his head, because they both know that could never happen.

They sit, watching the clouds drift lazily by in a sea of perfect blue, and they are content.

END


	3. Sentimentalist

Title: Sentimentalist  
Author: Kameko-chan  
Pairings: Kotetsu/Izumo  
Notes: Theme #2, 'News; Letter'

* * *

Whenever Izumo goes on a mission, he writes a note to Kotetsu that the other ninja never sees. 

He's not sure why he writes a new note when they are all pretty much the same. He figures he must be a sentimentalist. Keeping an old note feels like cheating, feels as though the emotions themselves aren't any more dimensional than the words on the paper. Maybe that's silly of him—his feelings for Kotetsu haven't changed since they day they met. It would make sense to keep the same note on his person through every mission he goes on.

Izumo has found that sense and love rarely walk hand in hand.

He writes his newest note from a cramped hotel room in a country very unlike his own. He has hours to kill before nightfall, and he might as well complete this ritual now to calm his nerves. He's still not used to away missions.

He taps his pen on the desk for a moment, and then writes the heartfelt message he has written out a hundred times before.

Kotetsu 

_If I don't make it back, remember I love you._

_Izumo_

He kisses the space where he wrote his lover's name. It's almost like kissing him.

He never said he was a man of many words, he _said_ he was a sentimentalist.

END


	4. Home in your Arms

Title: Home in your Arms  
Author: Kameko-chan  
Series: Naruto  
Pairings: Kotetsu/Izumo  
Summary: Home is days away, but they're in good company  
Notes: 30 kisses, #20 – The Road Home

----------------------

They've come out a bit worse for wear; Kotetsu will be sporting a few new razor-thin scars on his forearms that will fade beyond recognition soon enough, and Izumo's right thigh is dominated by a sickly-looking purple bruise. Otherwise, they are unharmed, and they are both aware of just how much worse it could have been.

The road stretches out lazily before them into the distance. Konoha is still days away, but at least they have finally crossed their country's border and into relative safety. Izumo frets at the thought of the paperwork waiting on their desks for them, knowing from experience that Tsunade wouldn't touch the forms and files of her own volition. Kotetsu shrugs and thinks instead of a comfortable bed and Izumo's cooking, still delicious in the field but even better in their tiny kitchen, at the secondhand table wedged beside the stove.

They stop to rest when they reach the top of the hill, exhausted. Izumo leans against a tree and remarks on the view, the sweep of field and forest almost dreamlike in the summer haze. "You can see the same kind of thing near the village, I suppose, but you never really notice when you're there."

He's not surprised when Kotetsu leans in to kiss him, but he enjoys it nonetheless, loves the casual way they can show affection here in the middle of nowhere.

Suddenly, neither of them is in a hurry to get back.

END 


	5. Memory Loss

Title: Temporary Memory Loss  
Author: Kameko  
Series: Naruto  
Pairings: Kotetsu/Izumo  
Summary: Sometimes when Kotetsu's with him, the rest of the world seems a whole lot less important.  
Notes: Theme #8, 'Our Own World'

--------------------------

"Izumo," Tsunade tapped her foot and crossed her arms, picture of impatience, "where's the paperwork for the chuunin exam results?"

The scratching of the young man's pen ceased as he looked up, confused. "The what, Tsunade-sama?"

"The paperwork you were supposed have filled out for me by this afternoon to make all the rank changes official," the Hokage replied, leaning forward to bring her face level with her subordinate's. "Where is it?"

Izumo's eyes went wide and his knuckles turned white as he gripped his pen in fear. "I-I'm sorry, Hokage-sama!" he apologized, bewildered to learn he had made such a grave slip, "I don't know how I could have forgotten something that—"

"Izumo!" A hurricane with wild hair and little regard for standard greetings blew into the room. "I talked to scheduling, and we can get that day off together after all!" Kotetsu pushed past the Hokage and pulled Izumo right out of his chair, kissing his friend in a way that surely violated several public indecency laws.

"Kotetsu!" Izumo sputtered as he somehow managed to separate their faces from one another, "I was talking with the Hoka—"

"I've got to go finish today's work, but you think of something you want to do that day, okay?" Another kiss, apparently for the road, and Kotetsu was out the door, a casual "Good afternoon, Hokage-sama" tossed over his shoulder as he left.

Tsunade smiled. "Ah. I see what happened." She shook her head. "Just make sure you get them finished before you leave today."

The chuunin gazed somewhere in Tsunade's general direction and replied dreamily, "Finish what again?"

END 


	6. Rose Detail

Title: Rose Detail  
Author: Kameko  
Series: Naruto  
Pairings: Kotetsu/Izumo  
Summary: Kotetsu and Izumo meet by random chance on a D-rank mission.  
Notes: Theme #11, 'Gardenia'.

------------------------

They met on a D-rank mission, one of those tedious chores disguised as ninja work. Normally only one genin team would be working, but the garden they were to plant was gigantic and the day hot enough to make the work go as slowly as the hours that oozed by. Two teams took up shovels.

In the spirit of cooperation, the genin were split into groups of two, one from each team. Kotetsu and Izumo pulled the mid-sized straws, and so out of random chance was their relationship born. They were to be on rose detail.

There wasn't much talking at first, despite Kotetsu's normally chatty personality. In silence, the two would dig a hole, line it with bone meal and rose food, and Izumo would hold the thorny shrub in place while Kotetsu piled dirt around it. The work went quickly in this manner.

"Ouch."

It was bound to happen. Izumo's gloves didn't cover his fingers, and so a thorn easily bit through the calloused skin of his thumb. Blood welled up, but it was nothing, especially to a ninja. He sucked it for a moment and looked again. It wasn't serious, but it was deep. "Damn."

Kotetsu stuck his shovel into the ground and held out his hand. "Let me see."

"Why?" Izumo sucked at the wound again. "Medical nin wannabe?"

"Just give it here."

There wasn't really any reason not to. Kotetsu peered at Izumo's thumb for a moment, then fished a roll of gauze from his pockets.

Izumo glanced at the roll and then to Kotetsu's 'unique' facial accessories. "For decoration?"

"That too." The other boy took out a packet of antiseptic wipes with an embarrassed grin. "Accident prone."

Izumo would have been able to tell, anyway; Kotetsu's deft fingers spoke of experience.

"Done."

Izumo flexed; the bandage was snug, neatly tied, and shouldn't interfere with his work. "Thanks." He winced a little. "Still kinda hurts, though."

A wicked grin spread over Kotetsu's face. He grabbed Izumo's hand and kissed the injured thumb. "Better?"

His first reaction probably should have been to punch the shorter boy in the teeth, but Izumo just gave him an odd look.

"So, you busy tomorrow?"

Work went much slower after that.

**END**


	7. Greyscale

Title: Greyscale  
Author: Kameko  
Series: Naruto  
Pairings: Kotetsu/Izumo  
Summary: Izumo awakes from a blood-tinged nightmare.  
Notes: 30 kisses theme #19, 'Red'.

------------------

All he can see is red. Not, mind you, that the scene in his mind is tinted scarlet; rather, the world is monochrome save the brilliant reds: the tiny wildflowers in the field nearby, the trim of his sensei's outfit, the blood spattered all over the ground.

Kotetsu is already holding him when he wakes, stroking his hair and whispering the practiced litany born of countless nights just like this. "It's all over, Izumo, that happened such a long time ago, I know it's hard but everything's okay now, no one's dying, everyone's fine..."

"He had your face." Izumo clings to his best friend in the dark, hides from that blood-drenched world of his nightmares and sobs. "_He had your face_!"

Kotetsu could reassure him, but both know the scenario is an all-too-real possibility. He tightens the embrace and just rocks, as though Izumo is a child, until the other man's sobs die down.

"You're not going to get yourself killed, right?" He shouldn't ask it, but he can't help himself.

"I promise you that I'll fight to my last breath to come back to you. You know that."

Kotetsu kisses him, warm and reassuring, and Izumo dreams in Technicolor.

END 


	8. Decade

Title: Decade  
Author: Kameko  
Series: Naruto  
Pairings: Kotetsu/Izumo  
Summary: They've known each other for ten years now.  
Notes: 30 kisses theme #10, '#10'

--------------------

"Guess what?"

Izumo squints at Kotetsu's face, shadowed by the sunlit window at his back. "What?"

"Ten years!"

"What about them?" It is far too early for this.

Kotetsu pokes the other man, half-playful, half-annoyed. "That's how long we've known each other."

"That so?" Izumo thinks for a moment. It's midsummer. They were fourteen then. Has it been so long already?

Kotetsu sighs and collapses onto the sheets. "You forgot, right? You're such an unromantic guy."

"Find someone else if you want romance."

"Don't want someone else." Kotetsu starts kissing him, light and playful. "Want you just how you are."

"You mean naked?" Izumo makes a face as Kotetsu kisses him again. "What are you doing?"

"Kissing you."

"Obviously."

"One," he continues, "for every year I've known you."

Izumo's begun to kiss back, because if Kotetsu's going to do it anyway they might as well do it properly. "Is this a new tradition?" he teases, "Are you going to keep doing this when we've known each other for forty years and you'll have to spend all day smooching me?"

"God willing." He's perfectly serious.

They definitely don't stop at ten.

**END**


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